Hello all. I'm new to the chicken world and I am getting all kinds of mixed information and I'm at a loss about what to do. We recently purchased 10 baby chicks that were 2 days old. They are a little over 3 weeks old now. Everything was fine until yesterday morning. I found blood in the brooder and noticed one chick that was obviously not feeling well. I picked her up and there was blood dripping out of her vent. She died a couple of hours later. We suspected coccidiosis and started liquid Corid right away. Several others began to show symptoms later that day.
The dosing is throwing me off. The guy I bought them from said Corid is extremely potent and can easily kill them. He said they used 1 teaspoon in a 3.5 gallon waterer so I could only put one or two drops in their quart sized waterer or they would die. Everything I've read says to give them quite a bit more and that it's hard to overdose them on it. My neighbor whose baby chicks just had it told me to do 3 mL per gallon so that's what we've been doing and they have improved a lot, but I don't know if it's enough medication to really kill the parasite.
I also took a fecal sample to a vet today after the chicks had been on the Corid for about 24 hours. She said she didn't really see any parasites on the fecal float test, but I'm not sure which chick the sample came from. Most of the blood was gone at this point so I had no way to know if it came from a sick chick. She also told me that Corid is like an antibiotic and can help with bacterial infections too. Again, this goes against everything I've read. I saw online that it's not an antibiotic, but a thiamine blocker. She also recommended 6 mL in a liter which equates to 22 mL in a gallon which seems crazy high! The most I've seen that you should give them is 10 mL in a gallon. I will probably bring in another sample tomorrow for a smear to look for bacteria, but I don't know if I can trust the vet's dosing instruction if there turns out to be a bacterial infection.
I'm just a very lost and confused chicken mama right now. Any help or advice would be appreciated.
The dosing is throwing me off. The guy I bought them from said Corid is extremely potent and can easily kill them. He said they used 1 teaspoon in a 3.5 gallon waterer so I could only put one or two drops in their quart sized waterer or they would die. Everything I've read says to give them quite a bit more and that it's hard to overdose them on it. My neighbor whose baby chicks just had it told me to do 3 mL per gallon so that's what we've been doing and they have improved a lot, but I don't know if it's enough medication to really kill the parasite.
I also took a fecal sample to a vet today after the chicks had been on the Corid for about 24 hours. She said she didn't really see any parasites on the fecal float test, but I'm not sure which chick the sample came from. Most of the blood was gone at this point so I had no way to know if it came from a sick chick. She also told me that Corid is like an antibiotic and can help with bacterial infections too. Again, this goes against everything I've read. I saw online that it's not an antibiotic, but a thiamine blocker. She also recommended 6 mL in a liter which equates to 22 mL in a gallon which seems crazy high! The most I've seen that you should give them is 10 mL in a gallon. I will probably bring in another sample tomorrow for a smear to look for bacteria, but I don't know if I can trust the vet's dosing instruction if there turns out to be a bacterial infection.
I'm just a very lost and confused chicken mama right now. Any help or advice would be appreciated.